House Hunting and the Attack of the Birds

I have been house hunting for the last few months. I am working on figuring out when it becomes pointless to search. Here is my equation so far...

Number of houses searched on the Internet 1,500
Number of houses seen in person 150
Number of houses bid on 15

Number of houses finally purchased ZERO

I think my math may be rusty because the numbers just don't work.

Although I am without a new house I have gained the knowledge of every available floor plan in the city. I am so good, that I can drive past a house and tell you where the kitchen is located, how many bedrooms and if it has an inside laundry room. Well maybe I'm not thaaaaaaaat good, but it sure seems like I've seen EVERYTHING!

Yesterday was another trip out with my wonderful realtor. She has been so patient in this entire process and we have laughed so much. Yesterday was a very entertaining day, as I laughed so much my cheeks hurt, yes the ones on my face....what were you thinking?

After going to many houses we stopped at what looked like promising prospect for a new abode. As the Realtor approached the front steps, an evil pigeon dive bombed her head and I think at that moment my Realtor had a mini heart attack. As she was panting from being spooked, I had to peal myself off the pavement from my rolling laughter. I know, I know, it was bad for me to laugh but you would have to if you would have been there.


As the day went on, and more houses passed we decided to call it an end to the day and head home. The Realtor must have had a past life as a bird, because all the birds in the local vicinity decided they wanted to attack her car when she was driving. Now that is not anything funny. You feel bad when a bird gets hit, but hey, it's not your fault they were flying with their eyes closed. The funny part was when the Realtor closed her eyes and ducked. Now remember, we are INSIDE the car and she is DRIVING. Again I was laughing so hard it hurt.

Have you ever been attacked by birds?

When the owner gets more exercise at the dog park...

Took Chloe to the dog park in town here. First time around she did very well. I was the helicopter parent, always hovering and making sure she was okay.

We've never been to a dog park before, and Chloe has a habit of barking at any dog that just breathes near her. Surprisingly, she didn't bark. She was running around with the other dogs, sniffing all the little furry butts.

Yesterday, we were up pretty early and I took her again. Totally pointless, as she just sat on top of the picnic table the entire time.

I would run around the dog park trying to get her to follow me around. But no go. I was the one getting the exercise. I bet she was sitting on the picnic table thinking "stupid human."

I personally draw the line at sniffing any butts!

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Yes...FINALLY.

Actually got in on Saturday around 3pm. Oh my gosh it was hot and still is. I happened to get in on the hottest day of the year. 114 degrees! Not fair.

Reached the apartment. Now remember this is the first opportunity for me to see this in person. Thank goodness I am not locked into a lease with a deposit. The place is nice enough to work for a temporary home but I am afraid that if I stay there any longer then a month I may be huddled in a dark corner having a melt down.

A few finer points of my new (temporary) home...

• Comes complete with roommates...little crawly ones
• Has it's own perfume...eu du smoker cat b.o. man
• Complete with it's own fine film of dust to give it that aged look
• And to show that this community is super safe, it includes a door that doesn't lock and a landlord that doesn't care to light a fire under his butt to get it fixed.
• Forget having to visit the Grand Canyon, the mattress includes it's own version.

Enough about the apartment. We have driven around Arizona looking at houses and today we will meet up with the realtor to go inside a few. Fingers crossed that today is the day I find one.

We have met up with some family and friends who live here and that was super nice. Although I am starting this adventure on my own (and my little dog to), I feel like I have some great support here.

Off to go drive around for a bit before the sun is at it's hottest and threatens to melt my flip flops to the pavement.

Thank you to all the readers following my adventure. I promise I will try to post as often as possible, but my lovely furnished apartment does not include Internet, nor do I want to make the investment to get a hookup. I will be back soon....

What You Learn On The Road...

But before we get to the list here is a review of some great photos from today...


This is the perfect way to pack. We so did it wrong...

Just what you want to see when you are ordering your Starbucks...


Started in Texas...

Ended up in Texas...

Do you know how large the state of Texas is? It is huge! Driving all day and we are still not all the way through. It got to the point that the GPS Garmin stopped telling us how many miles we had to go. Instead it just said Eternity in the corner of the screen.

In this long drive today, my mother and I have made a small list of what we learned while confined to a small space, in the hot sun together.

In no particular order...

1. When a billboard says Mobiloil on it, it is not pronounced Mobi Loil

2. The company web address www.sucasateam.com is not pronounced Suc As A Team

3. Do not put toothpaste on your face after using face scrub

4. When the GPS Garmin Nuvi with the up to date traffic reports has a picture of a small car upside down on it, doesn't mean the car is sleeping

5. One big wheeler (Mac truck) towing 3 of the same big wheelers does not mean they are all cuddling.

6. When the dog is anxious to get back into the car, she needs to wait until we have unloaded the boxes in her way or she will splat up against them and slowly slide back down.

7. Look down when walking in Texas, or you may kick a headless cockroach the size of a golf ball.

And finally...
If there is a line of cars in the middle of nowhere they probably all have a Garmin they are following.



Tomorrow is the big day. We arrive in Arizona...only after going all the way through New Mexico. Small hurdle but after Texas I feel like we can accomplish anything.

See you tomorrow....

I-Ten-Itis

After 1 hitchhiker, 1 man walking on the side of I-10, and us playing the Alphabet game until I reached the letter M and giving up we have reached Texas.

We started off the morning with our trusty driver....



And this is the view I had for the entire 860 miles...(The dog was stored somewhere back there)


Before leaving my job yesterday for the last day, a Fernandina Beach Pirate gave me some pirate hats just in case we were to be taken over by the Pirates of I-10. We haven't had to use them yet, but we decided to try them on....



The doggy felt left out so we let her borrow my mother's hat.


This is how I felt before we started the trip...


This is what I look like now...

No matter how many times we stopped or where we drove we saw this. They must have been following us...Where they pirates?


Waiting for our Pizza to be delivered to the hotel....already been an hour. May have to put that pirate hat on and head over to the Pizza Hut to get our treasure. I am that hungry and I just may do it.

More to come tomorrow....

Blogging Across America

Good morning everyone!

The time has come and I am moving across the country. Did you know that across the country really means ONE HECK OF A DRIVE?

2,000 miles to go and a sleepy butt to add. We have not yet left, and I writing this from my parent's house in Florida. Sunny, humid Florida. I am trading in the sand and surf for sand and cacti shaped like people. Really, you know you have looked at a cactus before and said to yourself that it looked like a person. Admit it.

I will miss Florida but most of all I will miss the people. My friends and people I have adopted as family.

So with all that said I am off. My mother, my dog and I are ready for our adventure. Lets hope we all get along so no one has been left behind at a rest stop.